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Konami's new service has a fake girlfriend email you about her day
Konami's dating sim, Love Plus, is a hit in Japan, allowing players to have girlfriends without the hassle of actually having a girlfriend. The next installment, New Love Plus, launches for 3DS in Japan tomorrow and offers more ways to bring virtual girlfriends into real-life experiences, Siliconera reports.Love Plus Tools, which allows players to import their previous Love Plus data into New Love Plus, will offer compatibility with AR cards that Konami will release every Monday. Users can take life-sized photos of their girlfriends and print them out on size A3 or A4 paper (16.5 x 11.7 in or 11.7 x 8.3 in, respectively).New Love Plus will also introduce Girlfriend Mail, wherein players will receive email from their in-game girlfriends, accessible via PC and smartphone. Girlfriend Mail will cost 315 yen ($4) per month, but Konami is offering it for free until March. Owners will also be able to link their game data with Girlfriend Mail, so emails will include their pet names, and on birthdays or anniversaries players will get "special mail." Whatever that means.
Solid Snake and other Konami characters appear in Japanese Scribblenauts
In addition to the ability to buy it in Japan and play it in Japanese, there are additional benefits to Konami's Japanese localization of Scribblenauts. Specifically, you can use the power of your words to bring forth Konami characters into 5th Cell's world. In these screenshots, including one tweeted by Hideo Kojima and two from Hachimaki, you can see Scribblenized versions of Old Snake, Gradius's Vic Viper, and Love Plus's Manaka Takane. Apparently, the other two Love Plus girls were left out for some reason.
Video games growing local Japanese tourism (thanks, Monster Hunter!)
Why are Japanese gamers flocking to a hot spa resort in Yamanouchi? Apparently, the resort took note of its similarity to a town in Monster Hunter -- and launched an event luring gamers to the real-world venue. The Mainichi Daily News details an increasing trend of small Japanese towns trying to boost their economy by launching events that tie in with the country's most popular games. Konami's popular Love Plus games have also featured their own themed hot spa promotions. There have been other more inventive tie-ins throughout the country as well. A botanical park in Mimata has been selling out of bottled fish eggs by packaging special cards that can be used in Colony na Seikatsu Plus. Even vegetables are getting in on the action, with the town of Yuni promoting "specialty crops" via farm-related games. Somehow, that sounds much healthier than America's approach to games tourism: Farmville-themed Big Gulps at 7-Eleven. [Image Credit: Travelpod]
Love Plus to add a third dimension on 3DS
Love Plus, a DS game about having an ongoing relationship with one of three virtual girls, is a phenomenon in Japan. So of course Konami is going to follow the two DS releases (and two arcade games) with a 3DS title. See Manaka Takane idly chat about 3D gaming in a trailer after the break.
Resort uses augmented reality to pair virtual girls with actual nerds
You've heard of this Love Plus thing, right? This Nintendo DS-based "dating simulator" is apparently a big deal in Japan, giving Otaku the opportunity to chat up (and kiss) girls the only way they know how: on a hand-held game console, with a stylus. To promote the latest version of the game (Love Plus +), Konami has developed an Augmented Reality iPhone app that players can take to the coastal city of Atami, allowing them to interact with their virtual girlfriends at any of thirteen romantic spots. One can even book a room at the Ohnoya hotel which, according to Discovery News, offers futon beds and a "barcode panel that allows the men to visualize their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono." Over 2,000 virtual lotharios visited the resort town during the campaign, which began on July 10 and ends today. Check out the trailer for the game (in Japanese, which doesn't diminish the enjoyment for our English readers one bit) after the break.
Monster Hunter Frontier Online boosts Xbox 360 sales in Japan
The combination of new hardware and a "newish" Monster Hunter gave the Xbox 360 a considerable sales bump in Japan last week. Media Create reports that 17,000 Xboxes were sold in that time (versus 2,060 the previous week); 15,000 being the new model. That hardware sales rise coincides with the sale of 92,807 copies of Monster Hunter Frontier Online Beginner's Package. Neither the new Xbox owners nor the existing ones saw any need to round out their game collections with additional games -- there were no other 360 games among the top 50 bestselling software for the week. Though Xbox 360 sales were much higher last week relative to the console's typical performance in Japan, the clear winner was the DSi LL, thanks to a combination of several factors: a price cut, the release of three new colors of the system, and Love Plus+, the latest version of Konami's breakout hit dating game ... which also coincided with three more special-edition DSi LL systems. See the rest of the top ten bestsellers after the break. Update: changed "Freedom" to "Frontier" in the headline. [Image credit: GAME Watch]
Konami's 2009 revenues fall in the absence of legendary soldiers
[Q3 2009 Presentation (PDF)] Konami announced its financial results for its Q3 and the nine-month period ending December 31, 2009. The publisher's net revenues for the period were ¥190.9 billion, down 18.4% from the same period in 2008 -- despite breakout success in Japan with the DS dating sim Love Plus, "strong sales" of Dance Dance Revolution and "game content for overseas consumption, such as Saw." What was missing from 2009 was, of course, the megahit Metal Gear Solid 4. "Due to the absence of major titles, such as last year's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, however," the publisher said in its financial results release (PDF), "the overall sales fell this quarter as compared to the same period the previous year." Should Konami succeed in releasing Peace Walker, 2010 should look a bit happier. We're still shocked to see one of the biggest game companies ever become this reliant on a single franchise. Source: Consolidated Financial Results for the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2009 [PDF]
